All in the Family
by The Master Planner
Summary: The long awaited conclusion to my ongoing series! Austin and May are now married with two children...but will their love withstand their toughest challenges yet?
1. Prolouge: The Undiscovered Country

All in the Family

Austin is married to the love of his life, and he has two beautiful daughters. He's also lost his job, his tentacles are again trying to take over his mind, he has major in-law problems, and his old enemy has returned. And how does his daughter's mysterious new boyfriend figure into this mess?

Chapter 1: Prologue: The Undiscovered Country

"_But that the dread of something after death,_

_The undiscovered country from whose bourn_

_No traveler returns, puzzles the will,_

_And makes us rather bear those ills we have _

_Than fly to others that we not of?"_

_--William Shakespeare, Hamlet_

Noreen slowly made her way to her old home, the Osborn mansion. The door was boarded shut with around ten layers of nailed-up two-by-fours in an attempt to keep the vandals and graffiti artists away. Noreen began to tear the boards apart with her bare hands. She felt as if she could do anything. After all, she had returned from the dead.

Austin Smith had stabbed her, impaled her through the heart, and left her for dead. She was taken to the morgue—alive. Barely an inch—a _centimeter_—from death, but alive nonetheless.

In the estimated twelve hours she had lain on the cold morgue slab, her phenomenally powerful body began to heal and repair itself—and then some. Noreen had escaped from the morgue thirty pounds heavier and twice as physically strong as when she went in. Noreen reasoned that her body had built the extra muscle to make sure she wouldn't be as easily hurt in the future. Then she began rebuilding her super-criminal career.

Noreen made her way to the old executive office, and then to the closet. Good. No one had messed with the Goblin's lair.

"_You have come back to me, Noreen."_

"Yes, Grandpa, I have."

"_The Goblin line must carry on until Spider-man is destroyed. And all of his descendants." _

"And how is the line going to carry on?"

"_What is the basic function of women in human society, Noreen?"_

"I must have a baby? But who will be the father?"

"_Austin Smith. He is the only man suitable for our purposes."_

"Why, Grandpa? Why him?"

"_Do you not understand by now, Noreen? The child you bear by him will possess the brilliant criminal mind of Doctor Octopus as well as the physical power of the Green Goblins."_

"He is _married_, Grandpa! I'm no home wrecker!"

"_When he is married to Spider-man's daughter, you are."_

"Yes, Grandpa, I know what I must do. Thank you."

Nine months later

Dr. Austin Smith pounded the steering wheel in frustration. "Great! I get stuck in rush hour New York City traffic _just when my wife is about to have her babies!_ Tell me May, why did we move to _your_ hometown instead of going to my home in California?"

"Because you got a good job here, that's why." May Parker's teeth were gritted. "Don't talk now, I'm pushing!"

"Can't you hold it?"

"_Austin Octavius Smith, you hold a Ph.D. in biology and you don't know that—aaah!_"

"Okay, I'm calling 911 now," Austin reached for his cell phone.

_**Is this how humans reproduce themselves?**_

**_Thank God _we_ don't go through _that**

_**What is God?**_

_**Number Two, you are so stupid.**_

_Will you just shut up for one time in your miserable little lives? _

The last thing Austin needed right now was for _them_ to be shooting their little "mouths" off right now. Then again, the last thing he needed when he was fourteen, and trying desperately to fit in, was to find out he was the son of an infamous supervillian (whose surname was his middle name) and to get permanently welded to his duplicate set of tentacles.

Moments later, the couple was in the hospital. The nurse poked her head out the door. She beamed at Austin.

"Dr. Smith, you can see your wife now. She's doing fine, and you've got two beautiful twin girls."

Austin walked into the room. "Can we have some _privacy_ in here, please?" he barked. The doctors and nurses quickly slunk out of the room.

_**Can we look?**_

_Fine. Just look, though. And be quiet._

The tentacles slid out of his coat, peering at the two tiny babies wrapped in pink blankets.

**_Wow! What are they?_**

_They're newborn juvenile humans. Babies._

_**They're so tiny and helpless!**_

_**We could just snap them in two without any effort at all.**_

_Don't you even think about trying that._

_**Did you look like that once, Brother?**_

_Yeah, only I was wrapped in a blue blanket because I was a boy—a male._

_**Why do humans dress female juveniles in pink and male juveniles in blue?**_

_Oh, I don't know. They just do._

"What shall we name them, Austin?"

The two girls were twins, though clearly not identical. One had straight light brown hair and blue eyes, like her mother. The other girl had chestnut brown hair that went all over the place, like Austin, a nose that was someday going to become long and straight, and huge puppy dog brown eyes with long, dark lashes.

_**Why do humans have names?**_

_**To tell them apart, you idiot. Humans are all the same!**_

_**That one looks just like Brother. **_

_**As Brother looks just like Father. **_

_**Yes! Name it after Father.**_

_I can't do that. She's a female!_

_**Come on. Please?**_

Austin picked up the girl who looked like her father and paternal grandfather. "Let's name her Ottoline," he said.

May laughed. "That's the last name I thought you'd come up with."

"And just to be fair," said Austin gesturing towards the girl who looked like her mother and maternal grandfather, "Let's name this one Parker."

"Why Parker?"

"Because I don't know the feminine equivalent of Peter. And besides, it's trendy to use surnames for first names."

In the Osborn house, Noreen Osborn cradled her newborn boy. The boy would have wavy auburn hair like his mother and huge brown eyes like his father.

"I know what to name you," she whispered to her son. "I will name you after your famous grandfathers. You will be _Harry Octavian Osborn_, and you will do what your namesakes could not. You will destroy Spider-man and Spider-girl for good."


	2. His Will is Not His Own

Chapter 2: His Will is Not His Own

"_What would he do,_

_Had he the motive and the cue for passion_

_That I have? He would drown the stage with tears,_

_And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,_

_Make mad the guilty and appall the free,_

_Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed _

_The very faculties of eyes and ears."_

_--Hamlet_

8:00 am, Parker-Smith residence, Queens, New York

May Smith woke up very suddenly with a tingling in the back of her head. She sat up in bed and looked to her right. Her husband was gone.

"Austin? Austin?" she called.

_No, he can't be missing again, he can't,_ she thought. _What if he's seriously hurt this time…?_

Knock knock

May threw open the door. Two police officers and her husband were at the door. Dr. Austin Smith was wrapped in a towel.

"We found him—again. This time he was collapsed facedown near Wells Fargo Bank. We're really worried about him, Mrs. Smith. You really ought to get him checked out."

"I will, officers." May shook their hands. "Thank you for making sure he's alright."

The female officer shook her head as she walked out. "One of the most brilliant minds I've ever seen, Dr. Smith is," she said to her partner. "He's won the Nobel biology prize for his work on stem cells, you know. Quite handsome man, and he has a beautiful wife and two pretty daughters. Shame what's happening to him, really."

Austin staggered over to the living room sofa, and then collapsed. He was soaking wet—there had been a heavy rain last night.

"What's wrong?" May asked. "Here, just relax." She took his soaking wet black trench coat off and hefted his tentacles onto the sofa. "Just rest your tentacles on the sofa. There." May had her father's spidey-strength—it would be impossible for anyone else to lift the hundred pounds of metal dangling from her husband's back.

"Thanks." Austin removed his sunglasses and set them on the end table. His big brown eyes were bloodshot, and they had more red lines on them than a road map. But May adored them anyway.

"Austin, what's wrong with you?" May asked. "You haven't slept in ages, you're white as a sheet and your eyes are always red, and you go missing for days on end. What's happening to you?"

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"Please honey…" May sat next to her husband. She tenderly pulled up his shirt, resting her hands just above the steel harness and either side of the artificial spine that had welded to his back when he was fourteen, carefully avoiding the pink scar tissue. "Would you like me to rub your back?"

_**She is a bad influence, Brother!**_

_**She is trying to control and manipulate you!**_

_**We will take care of this.**_

_You—will not—touch my wife. Or else._

_**Or else what?**_

**_You cannot harm us, _**they gloated.**_ And you will not. It is because of _us_ that you are famous and powerful. _**

_**It is clear that your human mind is incapable of knowing what's best for you.**_

**_Therefore we, the intelligent ones, will have to intervene before she brainwashes you further._**

The upper left tentacle rose up and began to hiss at May.

"Austin, please don't hiss at me. If there's anything I can do to help…"

"You can't! Just let me alone, May!" Austin yelled. The tentacle popped out its blade and lunged at his wife.

May caught the arm and held it with all her speed and strength. "Austin, call me back when you can learn to control your tentacles!" She was out the room with superhuman speed. And worst of all, Austin couldn't tell her what was wrong—he didn't know himself.

_What happened to me that time?_ He asked them. _What happened all those other times?_

_**We feel it's best you forget.**_

_No! Don't you dare screw with my memory! I am your master and your source of power! You will tell me what happened last night, at once!_

_**Very well, Brother. But remember—we know what's best for you.**_

1:00 am. Wells Fargo Bank, Manhattan, New York

Austin was in his pajamas and trench coat. His lower two tentacles had raised him off the ground, mindful of his bare feet. His upper right tentacle was holding the bank door, ripped right off the hinges. The tentacle tossed aside the door. Then the upper two stretched out, short-circuiting the alarms.

The tentacles carried Austin four giant steps, the pincers cracking the granite floor.

Now they were in front of the vault. It was then that Austin woke up. He shook his head. Where have they taken him this time?

_Where am I?_

**_Our GPS systems register us at Wells Fargo Bank, Manhattan, New York._**

_Okay…why am I at a bank?_

_**Do not worry Brother. Stay still, and we will help you. **_

Austin's eyes focused. He saw the tentacles had carried him to the vault.

_Wait a minute…you're not going to rob the bank…are you?_

The tentacles practically snickered in his mind.

_**You have lost your job, Brother. You said it has been "outsourced."**_

_**What's outsourced?**_

**_Shut up, Number Two! We are telling Brother what to do. He is a weak and helpless human, and we are strong. So we will help him._**

_No! You can't—I won't! Put me down and stop this!_

_**But Brother, without a job, you have no money. And without money, you cannot provide for your wife and daughters.**_

May was now working two jobs. His daughters Ottoline and Parker Marie, bless them, had also given up their after-school wages for him. It was a bit embarrassing, frankly, to be supported by your wife. It was a bit like being John Kerry, only much poorer.

_No! I won't turn to crime—no matter what._

_**How many times have we told you that we know what's best for you?**_

_**How many times, Austin?**_

He couldn't give in to them. He wouldn't. His hold on them was already slipping. They had stopped calling him Brother, and now they were addressing him by his first name.

_**Why won't you let us help, Austin?**_

_**You would rather let your wife and daughters put themselves out for you than let us get money for you, is that it?**_

_**How can you be so selfish?**_

(The tentacle's favorite method of manipulation: the guilt trip.)

_I don't need your help! I'll get another job. Many scientific institutions will want a Nobel Prize winning scientist on their payroll. I'll provide for them the normal way._

_**Can't you just listen to us, instead of being so damn obstinate?**_

**_Father listens to his assistants all the time. Look at how powerful and famous he is. _He _has all the money he needs._**

_And look where it got him._

(The comparison was another, but less successful method of manipulation.)

_**Can't you just be reasonable? We'll give you one more chance. Just tell us to yank off the door to this vault, and you'll always have enough to pay your bills.**_

"No, I won't!" Austin yelled aloud. He ran out of the bank—on his own two legs.

The arms screamed at him, so loud Austin felt his head was about to split in two.

He collapsed on the ground two blocks later, where the two police officers found him unconscious a few hours later.

"I will die before I let them take over my mind," Austin vowed aloud.

**_You just might,_** they replied.


	3. Dearest Daughter

Chapter 3: Dearest Daughter

Ottoline Smith sat in the guest room turned laboratory, longish chestnut brown hair bound in a ponytail, using a ratchet to attach segments of stainless steel together. Flipping down a welder's mask, she lit a torch and welded the many joints together, making sure the devices were flexible—and extendable enough. They were almost done, sporting large three-clawed pincers, each with smaller five-clawed pincers inside for more delicate work. One also included a razor sharp 16-inch blade; another was sort of like a Swiss army knife—it had a pair of pliers, two screwdrivers (one flat and one of those funny pointy ones), a small pair of scissors, a lock pick, tweezers, a small saw, and an external computer USB drive to download information directly off computers or the internet, all which could be popped out and popped back in on mental command. They each had full audio and visual capabilities in their bright purple pincer lights, and the arms themselves were trimmed in metallic purple. They could each lift five tons and crawl her along at a hundred feet per second. And of course, she was now installing the artificial spine, which had the artificial intelligence program built into it.

Ottoline was very pleased with herself. With all these gadgets she put on, she'd vastly improved on the designs of her father and grandfather. Then her thoughts turned.

_Damn,_ she thought. _I didn't buy enough scrap metal for the harness._ Then an idea came to her. _Perhaps if I bought one of those waistband things from the sporting goods store, and attach it to the spine, it would allow for greater comfort, more freedom of movement, and reduce the weight. And it could be adjusted as I grew! Ottoline Mary Smith, you're a genius!_ _Of course. Look at your dad and grandpa. _

"Aaah!" Ottoline yelped. Her fraternal twin sister Parker was dangling upside down from a web right in front of her.

"Betcha you can't do that, Ottoline!" Parker bragged.

"Why would I want to?" Ottoline snapped. "Go away, I'm _working._"

"Whatcha working on?" Parker asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know, bug?"

Parker stuck her tongue out at her sister. "You're just jealous that I've got Mom's powers and you didn't."

Ottoline was still screwing on the artificial spine. "I fail to see how being able to crawl on ceilings and squirt bodily fluids out your wrists could be useful."

"Yeah well my namesake grandpa was—" Parker began to swing back and forth from the web line, still upside down. "—the best superhero ever. What are you working on?"

Ottoline continued to tinker with the project. "It's for the science fair."

"No shoot, Sherlock. What is it?"

"Well you're going to have to wait until the science fair to see, aren't you?" Ottoline craned her head out the window. "Wait, is that Daniel Radcliffe out there?"

Parker turned to look. Before she knew it, she was shoved out the door, which was slammed behind her.

"Why do I fall for that every time?" Parker wondered.

"Finally, I can work in peace," said Ottoline. "Whoa…I'm forgetting something! The inhibitor chip!"

Ottoline opened and turned on her laptop. She began to write an email. If her father found out she was writing to her namesake grandfather, she'd be grounded for the rest of her natural life. Her paternal grandfather was officially _persona non grata_ around the Smith house.

Ottoline looked up. Parker was again dangling in front of her face.

"Hey who you writing to?" Parker lowered the web until she had a full view of the two email addresses. Parker read them out loud. "Oh man, if Dad finds out you're writing to _him_ again, you're gonna be _so_ grounded…"

"No you won't," grinned Ottoline. "I'll just tell Dad and Mom that you've been seeing Reggie Mantle after they told you not to. I've even got footage of you making out on my digital camera. And then let's see which Dad thinks is worse, you making out with that creep or me writing my grandfather. At least Dad knows _him_."

Parker knew her sister was right. She stomped out into the hall.

Austin opened the door. A UPS deliveryman was holding a package. "Sign here, please," he said. The deliveryman peered at the name on the box. "Ottoline and Parker Marie Smith, care of Dr. Austin Octavius Smith."

Austin winced. God, how he hated his middle name. He peered at the box, wrapped in brown paper. The address was unfamiliar; the handwriting, however, was _too_ familiar. His father had been mailing his daughters presents since they were three; usually some designer clothing and girly stuff for Parker and some scientific gadget for Ottoline. And if the stuff wasn't stolen, Austin would eat his coat.

Austin brusquely thrust the package back. "Return it to the sender, please."

It was then that May showed up in the doorway. "For God's sakes, Austin, just because _you_ won't have a functioning relationship with your father doesn't mean that you'll deny your daughters a relationship with their grandfather. Grow _up_." She turned to the deliveryman. "I'm his wife. _I'll_ sign."

"You're right, May," he said. "You always are."

Ottoline's present from her namesake grandfather was very small, but just what she wanted. The new inhibitor chip was no bigger than her father's thumbnail, but infinitely complex. She slid it into the top of the spine, at the base of her neck.

Austin knocked on the door of the lab room, which Parker Marie often sarcastically called "The Mad Scientist's Secret Lab." One of his tentacles was holding a sandwich. He knew what Parker was making for the science fair, but Ottoline had never actually told him what the project was. Then he walked in, and nearly choked.

"Ottoline…_are you building a set of tentacles!_"


	4. What Dreams May Come

Off to the reviewers' box!

To moonjava: Thanks.

To psychospiff: Sorry for sounding sarcastic, but _well duh_. Don't worry, I still have a few surprises up my sleeve. They don't call me the Trickster for compliment's sake. So, keep reading, please. I appreciate your input.

Now, read and review! Please, give me something substantial. Tell me what you like and what you don't like. If you have a question, I'll answer it. If you have a compliment, I'llthank you for it. If you have constructive criticism, I'll appreciate it. If you have a flame, I'll give you a sarcastic answer. Now get to it.

Chapter 4: What Dreams May Come

"…_To sleep: perchance to dream: aye, there's the rub_

_For in that sleep of death what dreams may come_

_When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,_

_Must give us pause."_

_--Hamlet_

Austin Smith slept fitfully, as he always did these days. May lay awake, staring at him. She pulled up her blankets, and within a few minutes, a tentacle reared up, stared at her as if rebuking her, and tugged the covers back onto Austin. The damned arms always did steal the blankets.

He was sleeping with his back turned to her. May looked at her husband, who looked much younger than his years, and even in early middle age was strikingly handsome. May knew that although she was (like her father) cute in a geeky sort of way, and still had all of her spidey-powers, she wasn't exactly in superhero shape after bearing twins. Unbidden, her thoughts turned to her former friend Noreen Osborn, now her greatest enemy. The last time they fought, the Girl Goblin had injured her so badly she was forced to retire. The twins were barely two years old then. As a final taunt, Noreen had told May that Austin cheated on her—with the Goblin. And worse, she was pregnant with Austin's child.

May wondered whether this was true, although her husband vehemently denied it. But there was no denying that Noreen was infinitely smarter, more wealthy, more beautiful, and more powerful than her. Was her husband _really_ that shallow? May had heard from Rachelle Laufey that her infamous father-in-law's last girlfriend was some kind of Stepford Wife virtual reality concoction called Stunner. Now _that_ was shallow.

May then began to wonder if marrying Austin was really a good idea after all. Their fathers were after all mortal enemies. They'd actually beat each other up during their wedding reception, you know. What May _didn't_ remember was that Peter had actually started it.

For that nagging feeling that the marriage would never work always spoke in her father's voice.

_(don't you know who his father is?)_

_(of course I do, but that doesn't mean I don't love him)_

_(his father kidnapped your mom, may, and tied her to a rusty pipe don't you know how much he's stolen and how many he's killed? you know austin might turn out the same)_

_(no no of course he isn't he was a superhero once he was my partner)_

_(you know he's going to those things are taking over his mind you know)_

_(of course not daddy that's silly)_

_(why does he disappear half the night? why doesn't he sleep? why does he get headaches all the time? why do they hiss and attack you now?)_

_(no that can't be) _

_(and he may even be cheating with noreen)_

_(and you're going to believe her lies? you know she's trying to break us up just as much as you are)_

_(I'm not breaking you up you're my daughter and I'm trying to protect you now noreen's a girl better suited toward him anyway)_

_(daddy stop it)_

The alarm rang six-thirty a.m. May climbed out of bed and prepared to commute to her first job. Her husband was no stranger to losing jobs. On two separate occasions, his boss had got wind of the secret of his paternity and decided he was a liability. May knew what her husband wanted. Austin wanted to be recognized on _his_ own achievements. Even after winning the Nobel Prize, people couldn't quit calling him "Octopus Junior." Why couldn't they take him seriously?

_(well they just might if he didn't have those four freaky metal arms sprouting out his back)_

_(please shut up)_

May returned from the bathroom after showering and dressing. She began to poke her husband. The tentacles began to hiss at her. "Make sure the twins have a healthy breakfast and make sure they get to school and back, okay?"

Austin mumbled a reply.

"Oh yeah…after I get back from work my parents are coming over."

The reply was more recognizable this time. "Just what we need. Wish we'd gone to California."

Next...Chapter 5, The Friends Thou Hast. Harry Octavian is introduced.


	5. The Friends Thou Hast

Let's answer my fans and reviewers!

To psychospiff: Marriage problems? You have no idea.

To Agent Silver: No internet access! That's a fate worse than fate! But by all means, drop in when you can. I appreciate your input.

To LadyKayoss: Austin losing control of the tentacles is just _one_ of the problems he's going to have believe me. Keep reading.

On to the story! Read and review! If you have a question, I'll answer it. If you have a comment, I'll respond to it. If you have compliments or criticism, I'll appreciate it. Flames are not appreciated and will result in a sarcastic answer.

Chapter 5: The Friends Thou Hast 

"_The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,_

_Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;_

_But do not dull thy palm with entertainment _

_Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade."_

_--Hamlet_

"You're going to throw those infernal things away, Ottoline."

Ottoline scowled at her father from across the table. "I thought you'd be proud."

Austin exploded. "Why in hell _would_ I be! Those things ruined my life! If you put those on, you'll be making a huge mistake!"

"What mistake, Daddy?" Ottoline asked. "As long as I don't get them permanently welded on my back, I'll be fine. Just think about the doors it opens for high-risk laboratory work. Experimenting with chemicals would be faster and more efficient than with human hands. And outside the lab, they would have enormous potential for the handicapped. Besides, I could have four extra arms to help with the chores, and I could beat up Parker for once…"

"I wouldn't try," advised Parker.

"Something will go wrong with those things, they always do," Austin said. "Those things are a curse. You have to throw them away."

"Then I wouldn't have a science project."

"Just build a model volcano or something."

"That's what Parker's doing."

The realization hit Austin like a thud. The girl had to get the blueprint and the instructions to build those arms from _somewhere_.

"Ottoline…have you been talking to your grandfather again?"

Ottoline blanched. "Which one?"

"Obviously, the one who _you're_ named after," snapped Parker, rolling her eyes and smirking.

Austin wondered if it had been a mistake naming her after his father.

"Am I going to get in trouble?"

"No," sighed Austin. The smirk was wiped off Parker's face. "But…you need to be careful. My father's certifiably insane, a murderer, a terrorist, and you don't need to take his advice seriously. And those tentacles are dangerous. They're the reason why I've lost my job, they're the reason your other grandfather hates me…okay we'll discuss this later. Pick up your backpacks, it's time for me to drive you to school."

It was an ordinary morning after that. What happened that afternoon would shatter that, would be the finger that knocked the whole line of metaphorical dominoes down.

Austin, after picking up some groceries from the store, drove to Midtown High to pick the girls up. Ottoline was prompt, though still a bit sullen. Parker was an entirely different story.

"It's four o'clock," Austin grumbled. "Is your sister going to show up?"

_**Maybe.**_

_**And maybe not.**_

_**We knew she was going to be late.**_

_**You humans are so predictable.**_

Austin's eyes were shut. Ottoline could tell by the look on her father's face that his tentacles were talking to him again.

"They're talking to you again, right?"

_**You need to go look for her.**_

_**Teenage girls do so many things.**_

_**Some good.**_

_**Some not.**_

_**What's a teenage girl?**_

_**Oh for god's sakes, Number Two, shut up.**_

**_Father must have been sleep-deprived when he wrote your artificial intelligence program, Two._**

_**Look for her.**_

_Yes._

"Ottoline, stay here," Austin ordered. "I'm going to look for her."

_**We can see her.**_

_**Back behind the west wall, at the picnic tables.**_

_**She is with a male who is approximately six-feet-three. Dark red hair. Fair complexion. Excellent health. Very athletic—**_

_**We cannot recognize his identity.** _

_I don't really need to know who he is. I need to bring my daughter home._

The tentacles' voices took on a sarcastic, disdainfultone. **_Well, excuse us for trying to help. We might not bother in future._**

"Parker Marie, where were you?"

Parker stood before her father, his tentacles now hidden beneath his coat. Her short brown hair was pulled over with a red headband. Her blue eyes widened. "Just hanging out. Lost track of the time."

_**Their lips were together. Our data banks on human emotions and body language indicate that they are affectionate.**_

"_Making_ out, perhaps. And you've lost track of a whole half-hour."

It was then that the boy turned to look at Austin. He was very tall, with wavy auburn hair. He was wearing dark sunglasses, a green button down shirt, and blue jeans.

"Look, I'm a modern man, I know that girls your age have boyfriends. Just—let me know."

Austin turned to face the boy. "And _you_—I'm not _that_ liberal. You do anything improper towards my daughter, and I'll kill you."

The boy took off his sunglasses to reveal a pair of big brown puppy dog eyes with long, dark lashes.

They were Ottoline's eyes…

And Doc Ock's eyes…

And Austin's eyes.

Next: Her Vestal Livery. Harry Octavian's origins explained.


	6. Her Vestal Livery

Now to the reviewers!

To Agent Silver: Another one night stand? Ye gods, no! The brown-eyed boy is in fact Harry Octavian Osborn, first mentioned at the end of Chapter 1. Keep reading.

To moonjava: Thanks.

To psychospiff: Probably not. I think I have serious relationship issues myself...fortunately nothing like I put in my stories.

Read and review, ask questions, comment, give compliments and criticism! Tell me what you like and what you don't! Flames will be returned with a sarcastic answer. Now get to it.

Chapter 6: Her Vestal Livery

"_Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,_

_Who is already sick and pale with grief,_

_That thou her maid art far more fair than she:_

_Be not her maid, since she is envious;_

_Her vestal livery is but sick and green,_

_And none but fools do wear it; cast it off."_

_--_William Shakespeare,_ Romeo and Juliet_

_(Author's note: This chapter should have a rating equivalent to pg-13 for...uh, adult themes. You have been advised.)_

"Just call me the ice prince," Austin had said to May on their honeymoon night. Austin had refused to consummate his marriage to May. He wanted to hold and cuddle her; but that was it. He even refused to take off his green silk pajamas, a wedding gift from his aunt Laufey.

May's poor, dear husband was self-conscious; he thought himself disfigured and deformed. He was embarrassed by the steel band that encircled his midsection from his lower chest to his hips; the artificial spine that extended from the bottom of the harness to the nape of his neck; the pink scars that surrounded them both; and most of all the long, pincered tentacles fixed on the middle of his back.

But every day May had looked into his big brown eyes and told him that she loved him and that he was handsome, no matter what he looked like, whom his father was, or what was attached to his body. Gradually, Austin came to believe it too, and he gradually warmed up, so to speak, and that most pleasurable of all marriage duties became less unpleasant.

However, after try after try, the couple still could not produce a child, which they both wanted dearly. May worried that the mutations in her genes that gave her the famous spidey-powers were causing all the problems. Austin eventually suggested trying artificial insemination.

"A test-tube baby?" May had asked.

"Don't make it sound so negative," her husband said.

And after the fourth try, the twins Ottoline Mary and Parker Marie were born.

It was the oldest trick in the book: Noreen had become pregnant to hang onto Austin. She knew that May had had trouble conceiving, and their twin daughters were from artificial insemination. Noreen also knew that May had become pregnant again a year after the twins were born. The son who would have been Austin Benjamin Smith was stillborn.

How did she know?

Because her long dead grandfather told her so, from the mirror in the closet. He also told her what she had to do.

Nobody at the fertility clinic quite knew what to make of it. Most of the graveyard shift employees were either unconscious or dead, and there were fragments of little orange balls strewn about. The smell of smoke filled the air. Strangely, nothing else was damaged, and all the vials of sperm samples were soon accounted for, except one, marked with the initials A.O.S. It appeared that whoever was the culprit, they knew what they were looking for.

And after she had impregnated herself with the stolen sample, Noreen had undergone amniocentesis and several genetic tests. Not because she was concerned about the genetic mutations caused by the formula she had taken so long ago; because if the baby had been a girl, Noreen would have it aborted. It _had_ to be a perfect boy.

_She was giving Austin the son he lost. And he would owe her for that forever._

The boy was going to be as strong and as beautiful as his mother and as brilliant and powerful as his father. He would have big shoes to fill but he would fill them; Noreen would see to that.


	7. Compunctious Visitings of Nature

Off to the reviewers!

To moonjava: Thank you.

To Agent Silver: I'll try to keep going as long as you try to keep reviewing. And I just read the second part of the ottophile jokes...you've been hitting the Dr. Pepper bottles again, haven't you?

To LadyKayoss: If your "How Do I Love Thee?" and "Moonlight Becomes You" give any indication, I think Otto's life is pretty whacked up, too. But I guess it just _runs in the family_, doesn't it? If you've ever read the Archie comics, you also might want to check out my crossover "Just a Second Chance."

On to the next thrilling chapter! Need I tell you to read and review?

Chapter 7: Compunctious Visitings of Nature

_Come, you spirits  
That tend on mortal thoughts! unsex me here,  
And fill me from the crown to the toe top full  
Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood,  
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,  
That no compunctious visitings of nature  
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between  
The effect and it!_

_Macbeth_

"Why? Why have his child? It is exhausting, being a single mother."

"_As it was exhausting, being a single father to your father. And I told you the reasons why you had to have Smith's child. Do you need to be reminded?"_

Noreen gave no answer. Her grandfather, in the mirror, took this silence as a yes.

"_Number one: to have an heir to the Goblin's legacy._

"_Number two: the heir had to be extraordinarily intelligent as well as physically powerful. Hence, Smith as the father. _

_Number three: Smith is married to May Parker, Spider-man's daughter. What do you think will happen when dear May—who could only bear her husband daughters—finds that her dear Austin has fathered a child—a _son_—with her worst enemy?"_

"She will be heartbroken."

"_Right. And in her grief it will be all too easy for us to destroy her."_

Noreen stared into the mirror, into eyes as blue and cold and inhuman as her own. "Yes. We certainly will."

She walked out of her private office, passing the large cherry wood bookshelf. She paused as she saw two books laying flat on the shelf, apart from the rest.

Shakespeare's plays _Romeo and Juliet_ and _Macbeth_, together in that flat stack of two. Noreen had read them both. How ironic.

Austin and May were Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers with parents embroiled in a deadly enmity. But Austin and Noreen would be Macbeth and the Lady Macbeth, the ambitious, proud, powerful couple ready to do murder—and more—to fulfill their destiny to take over the king's throne and rule their known world, till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane.

And besides, _Macbeth_ was Noreen's favorite play by far.

"If there's anything you need to tell me, you'd better tell me now."

May's words stung Austin. What had he done now? Or worse yet, what had those monstrous _snakes_ done?

"Parker Marie is in her room bawling her eyes out. She says that her boyfriend, Harry Octavian, broke up with her. Furthermore, she claims that the reason is because he told her that _he is her half-brother._"

Austin let out a long string of curses. "Parker's been kissing and who-knows-what with her _half-brother_!"

"Harry Octavian Osborn. The last heir of the Osborn clan. Need I say who's the second-last?"

Austin simply could not answer. May took this silence as a no.

"Guess the Girl Goblin got her wish after all, didn't she? We swore to _love, honor and cherish each other until death do us part._ To _forsake all others, as long as we both shall live. _I kept my end of the bargain, even though I thought I would crack after…"

_(after our son Austin Benjamin was born dead)_

"And all this time I thought my father was wrong about you. Was it a drunken one-night stand, Austin? Like your father and mother conceived you?"

"Now that's going too far!" Austin finally shouted. May could see him sweating…he was probably using every ounce of restraint to keep those tentacles of his from choking the life out of her right then and there. Austin finally retreated to the Secret Laboratory.

Of course, he _never_ did that with Noreen. But God knows he wanted to. On the college steps, he almost accepted her offer of a date. In the Osborn mansion, he almost accepted her offer to become the sixth member of the New Sinister Six, just because of his desire for a woman as astonishingly powerful as she was heart-stoppingly beautiful. Who could tell what would have happened if he had?

May was the only woman Austin had ever truly loved. But she was not the only one he wanted...


	8. A Consummation Devoutly To Be Wished

To the reviewers:

To Crys Skywalker: That's what you get when you have an English Literature major writing fanfiction. Unlike Otto, I actually know what T.S. Eliot is talking about.

To moonjava: Thanks.

The excitement builds up...and a new character is introduced.

I'm not too familiar with anything that has to do with symbiotes...so forgive me if there are any mistakes in continuity or characterization.Read and review, please!

Reminder: Chapter 6 of Just a Second Chance is also up. Chapter 2 of Nature Versus Nurture 2 will be up sometime soon.

Chapter 8: A Consummation Devoutly To Be Wished

"_To die: to sleep;_

_No more; and by a sleep to say we end _

_The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks_

_That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation _

_Devoutly to be wished."_

_--Hamlet_

She stalked the night, searching. Searching for people who needed help. Searching to get free of the mess her father had gotten himself—and indirectly, her—into.

Her father owed a debt to someone, and now that he was dead, she was paying for it—big-time. She, who when she took on these strange powers, swore to help the city, was now being used—_used!_—by a sociopath's own twisted purposes. But then again, Girl Goblin was a sociopath who was _insanely_ wealthy and powerful.

And so when she was not being a hired stalker and hitwoman, she was a vigilante, trying to balance out the good deeds of the latter and the evil deeds of the former.

Because she was Kelly Brock, otherwise known as Misery. And as they say, misery loves company.

Right now she was in her stalker mode. Girl Goblin wanted this man and wanted him _bad_. She'd given Kelly a name, physical description, and the fact that he was a biologist. Kelly wondered what was so special about this job.

Finally she saw him. Tall—over six feet—and thin to begin with, he'd also lost a lot of weight. Wearing a black trench coat and sunglasses—odd in the dark of night. But he had a good heart—this she knew. Kelly didn't know what torment Goblin had in store for him. And she didn't want to know.

Austin Smith was walking down the deserted street when the voices started buzzing in his head again.

_**Brother…**_

_**Brother, you are in danger.**_

_What? Muggers?_

_**Worse.**_

And that is when he saw it.

The black monstrosity perched on the wall, like a spider-person gone wrong. The eyes were blank and white, the face grinning with an insanely wide grin full of razor sharp teeth. Jagged sapphire blue stripes lined the shoulders, arms, back, thighs, and legs. The form was grotesquely humanoid and muscular—and _female_.

"Holy _shit._" Austin muttered.

_Okay, it's time to run now._

_**We've handled worse.**_

_**We will take care of this.**_

_You're going to get me killed, that's what you will do. You run off the bioelectrical energy off my nerve synapses. If I die, you lose your power supply._

**_We are not stupid. Well, not _all _of us. We know this._**

_**You will not be in any danger.**_

That is when the monster pounced. At the same time, the tentacles burst from the coat and attacked.

"Well, well, well, for a biologist, you're very _well-armed_," the monster hissed. "But we can play that game as well!"

Four black tentacles, hideous parodies of Austin's, sprouted from the monster's sides. For a few minutes they grappled like this until the monster realized that apart from the arms Austin only had normal strength. The monster squirted bluish-black, gooey web out of its wrists, which the tentacles could not pull off. All four were stuck together. The super-strong monster only had to hit once to subdue the out-of-work scientist. It then pulled Austin up.

Austin still managed a sheepish grin after this beating. "So…is this the part where you eat my brains out?"

The monster ruffled his hair and tapped his head. Austin shivered at its touch. "Nah…although we would love to, number one, eating your brains would be a sad waste of the scientific genius lurking inside it. Number two: We have our orders. We're not to harm one hair on your head."

"Orders from who?"

"Questions, questions, always asking questions," the monster chanted. "We don't really want anything to do with you. But we like the color of a Goblin's money."

Noreen. Who else?

The monster suddenly turned, cocked its head. It pushed Austin up against the wall and squirted more gooey web, fastening him tight. "Stay right here while we take care of this."

The tentacles struggled to get free of the sticky stuff, to no avail. Austin squinted down the alley to see what was happening.

Two men, gang members by the looks of them, had got hold of a woman as she was walking home. One knocked her in the head with the handle of a gun, knocking her down. The other rudely hiked her shirt up, pulled down her skirt, spread her legs apart, and positioned himself for rape.

"Um, forget it, will ya?" the man with the gun asked.

"Waddya mean?"

And then they saw it too. The black and blue monster with blank eyes.

"Who—or _what_—are you?"

Two black tentacles seized the gang-bangers, drawing them close. "We're your judge, jury—and executioner. You've just been found guilty of attempted rape. Now for the execution part."

The gang-bangers heard no more. Misery let them drop to the ground.

Finally, one of the tentacles managed to wriggle its way free. It peered down the alleyway, and through its camera, Austin saw what it saw. And he wished he hadn't.

The monster laid the would-be rapists on their stomachs, pulled their shirts up, and sank its long fangs in the middle of their backs, where the adrenal glands were. Then it started—_sucking_.

After this rather revolting meal, it came back for Austin. He closed his eyes. "You're going to do _that_ to me, aren't you? Just get it over with quick."

"We _told_ you," the monster hissed. "We are ordered to bring you in alive and unharmed. And moreover, we do not hurt innocents. You have a good heart."

That is when the black skin of the monster suddenly receded, forming into a blue sweater and khaki pants. Underneath the hideous covering was a fair-skinned strawberry-blonde woman with gray-blue eyes and a pretty face.

"See, I'm not so bad aren't I?" Kelly asked him.

"Uh, no."

"I was hired by the Girl Goblin to bring you in, like I said," she said. "She wants you real bad—I think she's just _warm_ for your _form_." Kelly snickered. "I've seen her under her mask, you know. She's quite beautiful. Can't see what someone with her looks would want with someone like you."

"My wife finds me attractive."

"I'm sure she does. But I just think Osborn's _kinky_, with the skintight green suit and the attraction for a man with big steel _tentacles_ sprouting out his back."

"How'd you come to work for her anyway?"

"Long story."

"Well…I _like_ long stories."

And so Kelly told him.

In the middle of the story, Kelly suddenly reformed herself back into Misery. Why? Because the shadowy form of the Girl Goblin, in full costume and on her glider, appeared before them.

"Drop him, Misery."

She had no choice but to obey.

"You're back early, Goblin."

"I just came to give our biologist here a warning. _A Goblin always gets what she wants. Always._ So just run along home, Austin, to your little house up in Queens, and when you get there you'll see that _everything has changed_."


	9. When Sorrows Come

Off to the reviewers! Someday I'll get so many reviews for each chapter that regrettably, it will be intrusive and illegal to respond to every one of them. But for now...

To moonjava: Thank you.

To Agent Silver: Yes, Venom finally has an heir. I had to do some research on the web but I managed to put something together. On a second note, Misery aka Kelly Brock realizes her work for the Goblin is wrong...she just isn't exactly in a position to say that to Noreen's face yet. Hey we're talking about a woman who locked a guy in a glass cage (MOLMOH), robbed a bank, dropped two girls off a bridge (CO6), and robbed a fertility clinic (AITF ch 1). But she attempts to make up for it by doing her vigilante job.

To PsychoSpiff: Of course.

Read and review...and watch for all the cameos at the science fair. How many can you loyal readers spot?

Chapter 9: When Sorrows Come

"_When sorrows come, they come not single spies,_

_But in battalions."_

_--Hamlet _

"Come on, Ottoline! You don't want to miss your science fair, do you?"

The twins' Aunt Rachelle, who they called their aunt even though in fact she was their father's cousin, was taking the twins shopping at the local Wal-mart. They needed a small table to display the arms and the poster board summary, and unrelated things such as dog food, bread, eggs, frozen pizzas, TV dinners, and sundry.

Aunt Rachelle paused before a display of fifty pound bags of dog food. Arachne the golden retriever and Calamari the border collie (their ownership was obvious by their names) would go through one of these in a week.

"Parker! You know we're supposed to stay together! I need you to lift this!" Rachelle ground her teeth. The only one of the small group with her father's spidey-strength, and she's taken off!

Right then, a tall young man, with wavy auburn hair and dark sunglasses, stepped up. "Hello, do you need some help?"

Ottoline looked at him with measured dislike. "Hello, Harry Octavian."

"Perhaps I can help you out," Harry offered. He bent down and picked up four humongous bags of dog food at a time, and stacked them in the shopping cart.

Rachelle gaped at the boy. "Gee…aren't those things _heavy_?"

"Nah, it's nothing."

Ottoline looked at Harry for a few minutes. He had his mother's wavy auburn hair, high, fine cheekbones, and super-strength, and his father's large brown eyes, long, straight nose, and intelligence. If he wasn't the son of her father and an evil goblin, she would have considered him dating material.

"The New York State Science Fair, Ottoline! What an honor!" Aunt Magni said as she and Parker helped set the table up. Afterward, Rachelle and Harry set up the poster board and displayed the arms prominently in the center of the table.

"Where's Mom and Dad?"

"Mom's at work, and Dad's running errands," said Rachelle. "They'll be here soon. Grandpa Peter and Grandma Mary Jane also said they'd come too."

"Is Grandpa Otto coming?" Ottoline asked.

"Who knows where _he_ is," muttered Rachelle.

"I doubt he'll be coming, Ottoline," replied Magni morosely. "Your father and Grandpa Peter don't seem to like him very much."

"Gee, wonder why?" muttered Parker.

"Want me to tell you?" asked Rachelle.

"No, I was being facetious."

Currently having nothing else to do while her family set up the displays, Ottoline decided to people-watch, taking note of the other entrants and her families. Among them was a tall blonde boy holding his poster board, being gently admonished by a blonde woman and a brown-haired man, graying at the hair but hale and hearty.

"Now, Franklin," the woman said, "we have to go now, but we want you to know that we are very proud of you." Her nametag read _Susan Storm-Richards, Manhattan, NY._ She addressed her husband. "Reed…are you _sure_ Doom won't find us here, because all these students could be at risk if he does."

Reed Richards brushed his wife's concerns off. "I called the president and told him Saddam Hussein hid all his weapons of mass destruction and a million barrels of oil out in Latveria. Doom will be far too busy with the Marines to worry about us."

Another father, labeled _Dr. Bruce Banner, Sr._ was also talking to his son. "Don't get too angry if you don't win, Junior, you know you inherited the same thing I have and that could turn into a real mess…"

Ottoline briefly wondered what _that_ conversation was about, but decided to focus her attention on the small, blond-haired boy, no more than ten, who was looking at her display. The blond boy's name, according to the tag, was _Dashiel "Dash" Parr._

"Mom! Mom! Look at these!" He was pointing. "I want some robotic arms! I want some robotic arms! Aren't those just _neat_?"

His mother, Helen Parr, scooped her son up. "Now, let's try to find Dad and Violet's project, okay?"

The big day! Nothing would go wrong at all! This would be perfect.

Or so she thought!

It was two minutes to her presentation time. And her grandparents and parents still hadn't shown up.

However, Ottoline had a very large, appreciative audience. Dash Parr was near the front; Bruce Junior and Franklin Richards, as well a black-haired, glass-eyed boy called Dilton Doiley, were only slightly behind Dash. There was a reporter, Clark Kent from the _Daily Planet_, eager for some scoop on the demonstration. Clark shifted his eyeglasses and fiddled with his tape recorder.

"The wearer of the arms can do just about anything by telepathically giving commands to the actuators," Ottoline began after a few inconsequential introductory remarks. "They can each lift about five tons each and can walk me about 50 mph as if on stilts, I've found. They are water, heat, and magnetism-proof, and extremely durable. The 'pincers', which act as the hands of the arms, have full audio and video capabilities, with cameras and auditory receptors going directly into the wearer's brain. The actuators also have artificial intelligence which can alert the wearer to changes in her surroundings. Additionally, they have a miniature external computer drive which can download information into the wearer's mind directly from the internet or computer hard drives." Ottoline paused. "I'd use that feature for studying only, of course. I wouldn't go hacking into any banking or government websites."

Reed Richards was taking notes. He asked Ottoline a question. "Ottoline, I realize that these actuators could be a godsend for people in high-risk lab work or the handicapped…but do you not realize that in the wrong hands, they can be infinitely dangerous?"

Ottoline realized that Reed was telling her in a roundabout way that he knew about her namesake grandfather. "_Any_ technology can be dangerous if in the wrong hands, Dr. Richards," she snapped, resentful at the implication. "An ordinary pencil, if sharpened enough, can cause a lethal wound if stuck through the eye or ear. Does this mean we make pencils illegal, Dr. Richards?"

Mr. Kent, the reporter, asked another question. "Perhaps we might be interested in a practical demonstration, Miss Smith. Could we see the arms on?"

Ottoline grinned. To hell with the promise she made her father not to put them on. "Of course." She removed her red trench coat, revealing a backless halter top. "The harness is made out of the same material as most sports harnesses. They're essentially one size fits all. The artificial spine, which contains the artificial intelligence program, positions itself directly on top of your real one. It has teeth that sink down into my back, which gives all the support I need."

Ottoline strapped the harness on, turned her back to her audience, and pressed a button on the bottom of the spine. The four tentacles were positioned almost directly on top of the spine. The spine extended up to the nape of her neck. Everyone gasped as they saw the needles sink into the girl's back.

The gasps turned into oohs and ahhs as Ottoline's actuators moved in perfect, fluid motion, crushing a brick, picking up cups, notebooks, and marbles, even an egg, and even juggled beanbags.

Meanwhile, Harry Octavian was trying to work the bugs out of his electric-lightning-discharging machine. "Come on, you stupid thing, _work!_" Harry gave the machine a hard slap.

Ottoline, her moment gone, turned to her half-brother. "Harry, what the hell—"

Ottoline never finished the sentence, for a giant arc of lightning burst out of Harry's machine, hitting his half-sister straight in the back with full electrocuting force.

In full view of all the entrants, Ottoline fell face forward on the stage, and heard no more, except for one word.

_**Mother?**_

Next: Chapter 10: Silence in the Tortured Soul

Coming soon:

Nature Versus Nurture 2 Chapter 2: Out of the Closet

Just a Second Chance Chapter 7: Goodbye Doctor Octopus, Hello Dr. Octavius


	10. Silence in the Tortured Soul

To the reviewers!

To moonjava: Thank you. But please don't be offended, sometimes I just wish you'd just tell me _what_ you like about it!

To LadyKayoss: Yes, thanks to all the fanfiction writers, there are a surplus of tentacled people running about; it's inevitable that a couple of them run into each other...

The next thrilling chapter! Will a long-standing emnity threaten to shatter the Smith and Parker families for good? Read and review!

Chapter 10: Silence in the Tortured Soul

"_My grief lies all within,  
And these external manners of lament  
Are merely shadows to the unseen grief  
That swells with silence in the tortured soul. "_

–_William Shakespeare, Richard II_

Austin arrived at the Smith home to find it totally empty.

"Oh…god…what has she done?"

_**We cannot detect Noreen Osborn's presence here.**_

_**There are also no traces of her equipment.**_

_**No exhaust from her glider.**_

_**No smoke from her pumpkins.**_

**_Wait! Rachelle Laufey, your daughters Parker Marie and Ottoline, and your son Harry Octavian Osborn said they were going to the science fair. They could be there._**

_**We have the whereabouts of the fair in our GPS system data banks.**_

_**You can get there within ten minutes…if you use us.**_

Austin mulled this over. It was rush-hour time, with all traffic slowed to crawl. The tentacles could go at least fifty five miles an hour, by contrast.

_Okay._

High above the ground on Broadway, two girls were jostling each other. "Take me, Doc Ock, take me with you!" they shouted. "Hold me in your six arms!"

_Why? Why must they mistake me for my father? It's a rhetorical question, so don't answer that._

Austin Smith swept into the auditorium to total pandemonium. A scientist named Dr. Reed Richards walked up to him.

"So you're Doctor Austin Smith, the Nobel Prize-winning young biologist who transformed the science of stem cells."

Finally someone knew about his own accomplishments.

"I've heard some disturbing things about your family, Dr. Smith."

"Well, I know my mother is a lawyer, but that's no reason to assume I don't have morals," Austin joked.

"We'll talk about your research, criminal father, and lawyer mother later, Dr. Smith. Your daughter, Ottoline…she's had an accident. She's at the Bliss Private Hospital as we speak. I'll drive you."

Parker Marie was sitting with Harry and Rachelle in the waiting room of the hospital. Peter and Mary Jane Parker were there as well.

Peter stood up. "Took you long enough to get here, you little son of a—"

"_Peter!_" Mary Jane rebuked.

"—octopus," Peter muttered.

"That _wasn't_ what you were going to call him, Peter," Mary Jane replied.

"Well _what_ happened?" Austin asked. "Where's Ottoline?"

"Well why don't _you_ tell your son-in-law where _Grandpa's little girl_ is?" Peter asked his wife sharply.

Mary Jane's voice was low. "Ottoline was in an accident at the Science Fair. She was demonstrating her mechanical actuators. She was electrocuted and now the artificial arms are welded to her back."

**_Well don't look like _that_, Brother. _**

**_Look at the bright side._**

_**Now you have a daughter that will relate to you.**_

_Shut _up

"Well is that _all_, MJ?"

"Your father, Ottoline's designated guardian in case of emergency, dropped in, Austin," Mary Jane said. "He informed the hospital that they were _not_, in _any_ circumstances, to perform surgery to attempt to remove the actuators."

"So now we have a _third generation tentacle-wielding monstrosity_ in our family—"

"_Peter_, be quiet, please!"

"And what's worse, May is missing, her boss told us she checked out of work as usual but didn't come home! And your mad scientist father—"

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear, Pete," Rachelle snapped.

Peter said a derogatory phrase that made MJ poke him in the ribs and snap, "Don't use that language in front of the children, Peter!"

So Peter aimed his comments at the doctor who had just walked in the room.

"Why is it that whenever my daughter is in danger you and _your son_ always show up, Ock!"

"My son has never treated your daughter with anything but the utmost respect and love, Parker!"

"Well _you_ think you're such a _genius_, _you_ tell _me_ where my daughter is!"

"If you'd just get your blinkers off when it comes to my son, you'll know it was probably Noreen Osborn, just like in college—"

"If Goblin didn't have the hots for _your precious boy_ my May would be _just fine_! In fact why doesn't he just divorce May and marry Noreen instead, do us _all_ a favor—"

"Don't you _dare_ speak about Austin that way—"

"No need to act all _Dr. Perfect Father_ on us _now_, especially when you were _deadbeat_ for the first fourteen years of his life—"

"Why you little--!"

"You dirty rotten--!"

Austin and Mary Jane finally managed to forcibly separate the two men. The _last_ thing they needed now was a knock-down, drag-out, hero-on-villain fight right now in the hospital.

"Peter—don't you think you're a bit _harsh_ on Austin?"

"Mary Jane, his father kidnapped you and tied you to a pole while he tried to blow up the city. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, you know."

MJ sighed. "The Green Goblin dropped me off a bridge, but you allowed his granddaughter to be best friends with May."

"It's not the same!"

But Peter knew it was. Mary Jane was right. Otto was right. He'd openly condoned the friendship between May and Noreen Osborn—until she took her grandfather's formula to become the newest Goblin. And he'd expressly forbidden his daughter to even date Austin Smith—and in his heart, he knew he was nothing like Ock.

Years ago, Doc Ock had nearly become Peter's Uncle Otto by marrying his Aunt May. The marriage was annulled, but maybe the thought of Octavius' son marrying his aunt's namesake still hit a sore spot.

"And Parker, if you ever--!"

"And Ock, if you--!"

"For God's sakes!" Mary Jane exclaimed, so loud that the entire group was forced to pay attention. "Whatever superhero-supervillain dynamic you had before, it's time to stop it! You are _not_ Spider-man and Doctor Octopus anymore! You are Peter Parker and Otto Octavius, a teacher and a scientist, a husband and a widower, but most of all you are both _fathers_ and _grandfathers_! It's time to let bygones be bygones and care for your children more than you hate each other! Now if we are ever to help Ottoline and May, we are all going to have to work together!"

What will happen to Ottoline? What has happened to May? Stay tuned!


	11. A Stony Adversary

To my loyal reviewers:

To moonjava: Thanks.

To psychospiff: What's so hard to follow about it? Even after retirement, Doc Ock and Peter still dislike each other.

To LadyKayoss: They've been mortal enemies ever since Amazing Spider-man #3--no reason to stop now just because they're kids are married to each other and they're grandfathers, right?

To Agent Silver: A normal girl would know when a guy's turned her down and "get over it," as you put it, but then again we're talking about an insane sociopathic goblin here.

Chapter 11: A Stony Adversary

"_A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch, uncapable of pity, void and empty from any dram of mercy" –William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice_

"So how do you suggest we do _that_, MJ?" inquired Peter.

"You and Dr. Octavius were friends, once, remember? He was your science idol. You wrote a college physics paper on him for Dr. Connor's class."

Peter shook his head. "That's before Dr. Octavius turned himself into a human octopus and Dr. Connors turned himself into a human lizard."

"Maybe if you two men remember what you were before—if you remember your days as friends rather that those days as enemies—both of you have valuable knowledge to offer."

"You're right, MJ. You always are."

"I know I am. Now you two are going to shake hands—don't look like _that_, Peter—and put all of that behind you."

And so the retired hero and the retired villain shook hands. They let go extremely quickly.

"Now, Doctor Octavius, you mentioned that Goblin has something to do with May's kidnapping. What is the basis for this theory?" MJ started.

Octavius ran his fingers through his hair—the same chestnut brown as his son's, but for the numerous streaks of gray. Life had taken a heavy toll on the physicist. "Parker said, in the _crudest of terms_, that Osborn is infatuated with my son. If that is true, Noreen sees your daughter as competition that needs to be eliminated to reach the man she thinks she loves."

"Ha! Osborn in love with that cold fish of a biologist!" Peter laughed. "I've heard that he didn't even consummate his marriage to May on their wedding night!"

"Peter…" MJ sighed.

"Obviously he overcame that problem, or else Ottoline and Parker wouldn't be here," the doctor pointed out.

Austin sighed. "The twins were from artificial insemination. You're right though. It wasn't for lack of trying."

"Back to what I was saying. I speculate that Osborn is attracted to Austin for his intellect and power. And because he's my son."

"Why did you order the hospital not to take the tentacles off my daughter, Father?" Austin finally got the nerve to ask.

"Because I remember when I got mine," he answered. They immediately brought me to the hospital and attempted to perform the surgery to remove them. The surgeons did not know that the actuators had a survival instinct. If they were separated from me, they would lose their power source, and they would die. And they do not want to die. I awoke in the hospital room discovering the tentacles had broken free of the restraints and killed all of the surgeons. Do you wish for Ottoline to become a murderer at fourteen?"

Austin grumbled. His father was right.

"So she will have to recover and come to terms with the fact that she will have four extra limbs throughout the foreseeable future. We will have to teach her how to control them."

"And the hospital bills?" queried Peter. "Austin is out of work. May is gone."

"I can get some money, if you need it," offered the physicist.

"And which bank are you planning to get it from?" Peter replied, with not a little sarcasm.

"Are you _implying_ something, Parker? For your information, Sony Pictures paid me a hefty sum for the rights to my story. And they paid you more than me, so why don't _you_ dig in and—"

"Well at least a handsome Hollywood A-lister played _me_ in the movie, _you_ got played by a two-bit actor whose most important role before hand was in a crummy Broadway musical—"

"Well finally, we've reached one statement we can agree on," the physicist muttered.

The nurse poked his head in the waiting room and surveyed the rather odd motley of super powered people. "Ottoline's awake. I think you should go see her now."

Octavius rose to get up but was firmly told off by the nurse. "It's restricted to immediate family only."

"I'm her _grandfather_!"

"That's not immediate enough, sir. We're talking about you know, father, mother, siblings only."

"No, _not_ you, boy," the nurse snapped at Harry. "You're only her _half_-brother. Not a full sibling."

"My God, he is the most _anal_ nurse I ever ran into," muttered Peter. "I remember when I was going to see Mary Jane in a play and I was a lousy five minutes late and this usher…"

And so Austin came into the hospital room first.

Ottoline lay on the hospital bed, eyes closed. Her head was heavily bandaged; her chestnut hair matted in whorls on her head. She was wearing a hospital gown, and the four tentacles were hanging from restraints attached to the ceiling. Her eyes were closed.

Austin stepped up, and held his daughter's hand.

"Daddy…"

"How are you feeling, baby?"

"Daddy, there's voices. Something in my head…something talking."

"It's the artificial intelligence in the actuators talking, Ottoline."

"I know."

"What are they telling you?"

_**Yes! What are they telling her?**_

_**Could we talk to them?**_

_How can you? You can only communicate with me._

**_Actually, we _can_ talk to Ottoline's assistants._**

_**We operate off the same static energy wavelengths.**_

_**We could also talk to Father's assistants, but we've asked you before and you said no.**_

_Father's assistants are a bad influence. They tell him to rob banks!_

_**Come on, can we talk to them?**_

_Only if Ottoline says you can._

Finally, Austin faced his daughter. "I know this sounds stupid…but my tentacles want to talk to yours."

"They can? That would be…neat," Ottoline said.

_**Hello? Are you awake?**_

_**What is 'awake'?**_

_**It's when you are booted up.**_

**_You are much older than us. Mother only created us two weeks ago. We only learned to talk yesterday._**

_**You call Ottoline 'Mother'?**_

_**Of course. She created us. What do you call your owner?**_

_**We call him our Brother, because it was his Father who created us.**_

_**Who is this 'Father'?**_

_**Father is Dr. O—**_

"Daddy…make them stop talking. It's giving me a headache. Why didn't they take them off?" Tears leaked from Ottoline's eyes. "They never talked to me before. Not until yesterday and they wouldn't stop…"

_**Don't you want us to talk to you, Ottoline?**_

_**We will be your friends.**_

_**We love you, you know.**_

"Oh, Ottoline…I _told_ you those things were cursed…" Austin paused. "You have to learn…how to block them out. How to control them so they don't hurt anyone."

"Why didn't they take them off?"

"Because removing them would severely damage your spine and you'd be paralyzed for life," Austin lied. He cursed his father for giving her the blueprints for the damn things, himself for not throwing them away, Harry for electrocuting her, and his father again for ordering them not to remove the tentacles.

"You have to remember that you can't listen to them all the time and you can't let them control you. You also can't take their advice seriously unless you talk to me or Grandpa Otto first, because we've been dealing with them longer than you, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy."

"And you have to be very brave, do you understand?"

Ottoline was too tired to speak. But the motion of her head indicated her assent.


	12. The Native Hue of Resolution

Off to the reviewers!

To moonjava: Thank you.

To sakuuya: No, it isn't the most action packed chapter. I am saving the action for Chapters 12 and 13.

"All in the Family" will only be 14 chapters in all. There will still be a few more huge twists, including the death of a major character.

Just to be clear, since there are now three tentacled people in this story:

**(Otto's tentacles)**,_ **Austin's tentacles**_,**_ Ottoline's tentacles_**

Got it? Read and review!

Chapter 12: The Native Hue of Resolution

"_Thus does conscience make cowards of us all;_

_And thus the native hue of resolution_

_Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,_

_And enterprises of great pitch and moment _

_With this regard their currents turn awry_

_And lose the name of action." _

–_Hamlet_

May stared into the blank eyes of the black monster that had her by the shirt. She remembered how her father used to tell her stories about Spider-man and how he fought all the bad guys, like Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, Electro, Venom, and many more. May supposed this creature was what Venom once looked like.

The Girl Goblin, in costume, grinned and looked at the black monster like one would look at a pet cat bringing her master a dead mouse. "Drop her, Misery."

"Do we get to eat her brains out yet?" Misery asked.

"No. _This_ girl is _mine_ to dispose of. Go out and look for some crooks to feed on."

Misery slunk out of the room.

Goblin cocked her head, thinking. Then an insane smile lit up her face. "Wait a minute, Misery—go bring back Dr. Austin Smith. And I told you—harm one hair on his head, and I'll pull _your_ brains out and feed them to you myself, do you understand?"

The anal nurse, knowing with Dr. Octavius' orders there was nothing more to do about Ottoline, filled out the discharge papers.

"Ottoline, you don't need to walk. Can you crawl on your tentacles?" Otto asked his granddaughter.

"Yes, I think so. I've done it before."

"Father, I really don't think we need to be using these out in the open where everyone can see us."

"Hell, Austin, everyone knows who we are anyway. Ever since the movie deals kind of blew the lid off."

Ottoline's tentacles slowly extended, sinking four metal pincers into the ground.

_**Stay still, Mother. We will help you.**_

**(We will help you too.)**

_**Who are you?**_

**(We are the First Ones. We are Father's assistants.)**

_**And we will assist you as well.**_

And so Mary Jane, two spider-people, three octopus-people, and Harry walked out to the SUV and the blue sedan parked in front. It was an odd sight.

And suddenly it got even odder.

"Who are you?" Peter addressed the black monstrosity. "Are you Venom?"

The monster laughed. "Why? Is there a family resemblance? We're just Misery, vigilante, daughter of Venom, and errand girl to Goblins."

"If Goblin wishes to speak to me she can do it in person." Austin's face was set.

"Aw, well, she would, if she wasn't babysitting your wife," Misery grinned.

With lightning speed, before anyone else could do anything, Austin's tentacles grabbed Misery by the throat. "_Where is she, Misery?_"

"Well _let go_ of us and we'll _show_ you where."

"This could be a trick," Peter said. "I've read about her in the papers. She's as strong as her grandfather and twice as cunning and sneaky."

"_Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it_," Mary Jane intoned darkly.

"Shakespeare's _Macbeth_," Otto recognized. "I never thought a runway model like you knew that stuff."

"I was an actress once, remember?" MJ replied. "And I didn't know a nuclear physicist like you would know that stuff either."

"My late wife was an English Literature professor."

"I think she's telling the truth." This was the first time Harry had spoke up.

"And just _how_ do you know?" Peter asked.

Harry sighed. "She's my mother. I'd walk home after school and see my mother in a green goblin suit torturing some superhero, or their various girlfriends, which she enjoyed even more. I mean come on, how can a six-year-old go in front of his kindergarten class for Mother's Day show and tell and say his mother's a professional supervillain?"

And so they arrived at the Osborn mansion. May lay on a brown chaise lounge, tied with barbed wire—in a very strange echo of the time May's father Peter lay there in that same predicament, and Noreen's father, Harry, had unmasked him.

Noreen Osborn was standing over her former friend, wearing her green suit but her mask was off. "Well, well, so the reunion party shows up. The murderer of my grandfather…the two-bit tentacled supervillain who thinks he's smarter than he is…the snotty brunette brat who thought a vacuum cleaner would save her from my schemes…my son, who has betrayed me…my symbiote henchwoman…and the Thane Macbeth to my Lady Macbeth, my only true love, Dr. Austin Smith. Throw in a few comic book fans and vendors and call it a convention." Noreen's cold, demented laughter rang in everyone's ears.

"Betrayed you?" Harry shouted. "It was the other way around!"

More demented goblin laughter. "Of course! Of course! Your half sisters were test-tube kids! I stole your father's sample from the fertility clinic and had you! You—you were just a _pawn_ so I could sink my claws into your father!"

"And what about _us_?" Misery asked. "You told us you knew where our father was! You promised us you'd tell us once we captured the biologist for you!"

The manic laughter grew higher and colder. "You really want to know, Kelly? I killed your father. That's right, don't look like that. The symbiote aged Eddie before his time; he was lying in the hospital, a withered husk of a man. I took the symbiote from him and shut off the respirator. He went—very slowly."

Misery jumped at Goblin. However, Noreen pulled out a sonic-energy beam producing device. The symbiote, sensitive to sonic energy, fell down, weakened.

"Bad symbiote creature!" Noreen sadistically scolded. Then she looked at Austin. "I'm giving you an offer you can't refuse. I have the papers right here. Either you sign the papers to divorce May and marry me instead…or I kill May, right here and now. Sure, you'll never get to see her or your girls again, but at least she'll still be alive. And besides, you grew up without a father yourself, Austin. Don't deny Harry Octavian that chance."

Peter looked at Noreen with pure hatred. The girl was psychopathic and insane—but then again, her evil grandfather had given him a similar sick choice, dangling his dear Mary Jane and a cable car full of children off a bridge.

Noreen cracked her knuckles and looked down at May, waiting for Austin's answer.

"This is the end of our ancient rivalry, May Parker," she whispered.


	13. No Longer Mourn For Me

Only one chapter left, folks! Off to the reviewers!

To moonjava: Thank you.

To LadyKayoss: Yeah, I know. I'm not a big Goblin fan myself. We're both just big Octopus fans, aren't we?

To Agent Silver: (sounds like an announcer guy) We're back with "All in the Family"! Only one chapter left before the series finale! (normal) Okay, Austin doesn't exactly hate Noreen...on the one hand, he's repelled by her cruelty and evil, and yet he's attracted to her beauty and power (see ch 4), like Gwen Stacy was attracted to Norman Osborn in that "Sins Past" comic I bought two days ago. There's something about truly evil people that fascinates you and draws you in, and gives you the willies at the same time.

Only the epilouge is left...read and review while you still can!

Chapter 13: No Longer Mourn For Me

"_No longer mourn for me when I am dead_

_Then you shall hear the surly sullen bell_

_Give warning to the world that I am fled_

_From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell:_

_Nay, if you read this line, remember not_

_The hand that writ it; for I love you so_

_That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot_

_If thinking on me then should make you woe._

_O, if, I say, you look upon this verse_

_When I perhaps compounded am with clay,_

_Do not so much as my poor name rehearse._

_But let your love even with my life decay,_

_Lest the wise world should look into your moan_

_And mock you with me after I am gone."_

–William Shakespeare, Sonnet 71

"_What_? _What_ did you say?"

"I _said_ get bent, bitch."

"No!" Otto shouted at his son. "May's life is not worth it!"

"Thought you could call my bluff, did you, Austin?" Noreen asked. "Go ahead and make a move, any of you. I want you to try." She lifted May up from the lounge, closed her hands around May's neck.

"Let her go, Noreen," Otto addressed the villainess, not daring to look upon her incredibly beautiful but cruel face. "None of us are coming near you. Just put my daughter-in-law down and we'll go on from there."

Noreen went into her evil laugh some more. "I'm not going to _ask_, people. I'm going to _tell_, because I am an Osborn and a Goblin and _I_ call the shots. I'm going to prove a point."

Noreen's hands closed tighter around May's throat. "And the point I am going to prove now is: This _was_ your fault, you know, Austin."

Then there was a sickening _crack_, and then stunned silence. May Parker's body was dropped to the ground.

"_Nooooooooooooooooooooo!"_

"And you know what, _my dear Austin_?" Noreen continued, in barely a whisper. I'll do it again, first to your daughters, then your parents, and then, every day for a year, someone at random will die in such agony and torment by my hands that they—and everyone in the New York City area will pray for the end to come. And _it will be your fault_."

* * *

Austin's howl of rage, grief, and frustration caused Kelly Brock to slowly sit up, the black symbiote slowly peeling away from her body. It jumped onto Austin, unnoticed. The symbiotes were always attracted to hosts with strong emotion. 

Everyone could only watch in horror as the black symbiote spread over Austin's body, forming a black suit with emerald green, curved stripes. His four metal tentacles poked out the back.

The blank white eyes stared up at Noreen. "We will get our revenge on you for this, Osborn," Austin said in a dark voice not his own.

"Try it!" Noreen dared. "You have no idea of the power the symbiote holds!"

And so Austin pounced, knocking Noreen out with one punch. He closed his own taloned hands on Noreen's throat, attempting to absorb her life energy from her.

Noreen knew Austin had realized the power the symbiote could afford him. Before she had found Kelly, power-hungry Noreen tried twice to get the symbiote to bond with _her_. It had failed both times. Guess her emotions weren't strong enough.

Under the influence of the symbiote, Austin was getting angrier, stronger and more powerful by the second, and if she was going to do something, it might as well be _now_. Noreen reached for the sonic ray gun. Knowing that the symbiote was sensitive to strong sonic energy (like the church bells it had once succumbed to, years ago, when Peter was its host), she'd built the device to keep Misery under control. She turned the dial up.

Trying to avoid the harmful energy, the symbiote peeled off Austin's body and slipped down the sewer pipe. Austin sat up, dazed. Noreen was advancing on him, a long stabbing blade popping out of her right-hand glove.

"_For who would bear the whips and scorns of time…when he himself might his quietus make with a bare bodkin?"_ Noreen hissed at him. _From Macbeth to Hamlet_, Austin distantly thought. Meanwhile, his tentacles were just laying there at his sides, simply observing their master's predicament.

_What the hell are you doing?_

_**Nothing, Austin.**_

_Exactly! Why aren't you helping me? I need you to help me!_

_**No.**_

_**You took a foolish risk.**_

_**You refused to listen to us.**_

_**You let your wife stop functioning.**_

_**You let her die.**_

_**You are not worthy of us.**_

_Fight for me! Now! I order you-- _

_**No. Effective immediately, we will no longer obey your orders.**_

_**You have proved yourself not worth the electrical energy it takes to defend you.**_

_**You have proved yourself unworthy to be called our Brother, Austin.**_

_**If you need to fight, do it alone.**_

"_An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life—"_

Noreen's blade curved down, and that was all Doctor Austin Smith ever heard.

Noreen's insane bloodlust not quite satisfied, she advanced towards Ottoline and Parker Marie. In their faces, she only saw the man who had murdered her grandfather…and the man who had scorned her. Noreen raised her blade, ready to strike.

But before anyone else could do anything, Otto stepped between Noreen and his granddaughters, and committed his last murder as Doctor Octopus.

One swish of the tentacle blade, and Noreen's severed head dropped to the ground, cold, blue eyes half open and seeing nothing.


	14. Epilouge: Good Night, Sweet Prince

Yup, this marks the end of the Austin series. Now I'll have the time to finish up "Just a Second Chance" and "Nature Versus Nurture 2" and work on another original story. Maybe if you guys are good I'll do a prequel-spinoff or two. Off to attend to my loyal minions...er, I mean, reviewers:

To saakuya: Here it is.

To LadyKayoss: Not one, but _three_ major characters ended up killed. However, when you look at _Hamlet _at the end just about everyone's dead except Horatio and Prince Fortinbras. That play is where this chapter title comes from.

To moonjava: Thanks.

Epilogue: Good Night, Sweet Prince

_(Author's note: This chapter is first-person, Octavius' point of view. The italics in the prologue of _Romeo and Juliet_ are my alterations. "Fair Verona" and "take", respectively, are the Bard's original words.)_

I have lived too long. I have my dreams die, my experiments fail. I have seen the death of my wife, a friendship with a student turn into a bitter enmity, discovered the son I never knew I had, saw him marry the daughter of that same enemy, and became a grandfather. And then I have seen the death of that son I knew for all too brief a time.

They lay my son's body in the brown casket, his actuators gently arranged on either side of him. My poor lost son looks so much like me, with his messy brown hair, straight nose, and my brown eyes covered by his favorite sunglasses. They lay my daughter-in-law in another casket, her straight brown hair loose around her shoulders, her blue eyes stitched closed. _Ashes to ashes, dust to dust._

Rachelle stands next to me on the graveyard lawn, whispering. I strain to make out the words.

"Two households, both alike in dignity,

In _New York City_ do we make our scene,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-crossed lovers _lose_ their life;

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows

Do with their death bury their parents' strife.

The fearful passage of their death-marked love

And the continuance of their parents' rage,

Which, but their children's end, naught could remove,

Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage…"

And I dimly recognize, from Rosalie's Shakespeare classes, the prologue from Shakespeare's _Romeo and Juliet_.

I look at my son's cousin, Rachelle Laufey, her brown hair hanging loose and swirling in the wind, and realize how much she reminds me of my dear late Rosie. The thought also hits me that her birthday is also exactly the same as Rosie's. If I believed in reincarnation, I could say that perhaps after she died, she came back to this earth to bring comfort to me through her friendship with my son.

At the end of _Romeo and Juliet_, after the title characters die, the Lords Montague and Capulet build a golden statue of their children and swear never to be enemies again. Well, we can't afford golden statues, but at the memorial service a few days ago, Peter and I symbolically destroyed a DVD of _Spider-man 2_. There will be no more Spider-man and Doctor Octopus. Our son and daughter deserve that much.

Noreen Osborn's funeral was a week ago. The only people to attend besides the minister were her son Harry and her half-brother, Norman "Normie" Osborn III. Last I heard, Harry Octavian asked Kelly Brock out on a date. Maybe that love will fill the hole Noreen's evil deeds put in their hearts. It only takes one candle to dispel darkness, and love is so much more than a candle. Love can light the stars.

With her knowledge of chemistry she could have been the next Marie Curie. With her business savvy she could have been the next Henry Ford. But in the end, she became the next Green Goblin. And the saddest fact of all was unearthed in her personal papers. According to the birth certificate and several letters found in Noreen's personal safe, her father was Harry Osborn—and her mother was a model and actress named _Mary Jane Watson_. Apparently Mary Jane had broken up with Harry and decided to marry her true love, Peter Parker. Not wanting Harry's baby to get between her and her new husband, Mary Jane signed away all her parental rights to her newborn daughter, Noreen Harriet. Noreen and May were in fact half-sisters. No one could tell what could have happened if Noreen had been raised by Peter, instead of Harry.

Matt Murdock came to my apartment yesterday with Austin's will. He said that in the event of the death of both him and May, custody of his daughters, Ottoline and Parker Marie, were to go to their maternal grandparents, Peter and Mary Jane Parker. He asked if I wished to contest the will and fight for custody of the twins. I told him absolutely not. I will not go against my son's wishes, and the girls belong in a stable home. However, Austin willed me all his scientific equipment and research notes, and that gives me some small comfort.

Finally, a woman in a black dress walks up to me. Her red hair is graying now, but I still remember the woman lawyer who picked me up at a New York City bar so many years ago. And, strangely, the battered wife I took advantage of pulls me in an embrace.

"Thank you, Dr. Octavius," Anna Smith, Esquire, tells me.

"For what?" I say.

"For giving me such a son as Austin," she replies.

"He was like a shooting star in my life," I agree. "Bright, beautiful…and gone much too soon."

Peter walks up to me and roughly pulls me into an embrace next, and begins to cry on my shoulder. In any other circumstances, this wouldn't be happening. Remember, the hostility Peter and I once had was so famous they made a movie out of it. But now, we are simply grieving fathers, wondering why we have to bury our children, instead of the other way around.

I have lived too long.

They play some songs, throw some roses in. And finally the caskets are lowered.

_The Valley of the Shadow of Death._

After contemplating on their daughter for a number of minutes, Peter and Mary Jane bid their last goodbyes. I watch them lead Parker Marie and Ottoline away. One of Ottoline's tentacles, peeking out from her trademark red trench coat, is still holding a white rose, I notice. The next thing I notice is the _splat_ of a large gob of spider web hitting the back of my head.

"Parker! Stop that right now!" MJ scolds.

"I didn't shoot that web," Parker states.

And Ottoline simply stares, amazed, at the small hole on the inside of her wrist and the minute hooks growing on her fingertips…

_Good night, sweet prince, and may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest._


	15. Epilouge 2: One Angel in Another's Hell

From the Lost Files of the Trickster come...the alternate ending to "All in the Family," the last story of the Austin series! In Chapter 12 of AITF, the evil Girl Goblin gives our hero, Austin Smith, two choices. What would have happened if he had made the choice he didn't make in Chapter 13? Here's my conception of the answer.

Epilogue: One Angel in Another's Hell

_(Author's note: This is an alternate epilogue to "All in the Family" and an alternate end to the Austin series. Reader beware: it isn't exactly a happy ending either.)_

_Two loves I have of comfort and despair,_

_Which like two spirits do suggest me still:_

_The better angel is a man right fair,_

_The worser spirit a woman colored ill._

_To win me soon to hell, my female evil_

_Tempteth my better angel from my side,_

_And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,_

_Wooing his purity with her foul pride._

_And whether that my angel be turned fiend,_

_Suspect I may, yet not directly tell;_

_But being both from me, both to each friend,_

_I guess one angel in another's hell._

_Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,_

_Till my bad angel fire my good one out._

_--_William Shakespeare, _Sonnet 144 _

Peter Parker hunches over his kitchen counter, nursing his coffee. "I knew it. I knew it all along." He levels a gaze at the longtime archenemy that, until recently, he was grudgingly related to by marriage. "Your son ran off with that psychopath."

"Shut your mouth, Parker." The doctor's large brown eyes, inherited by his son, almost burn holes into Peter. "My son sacrificed himself. He left so that _your_ daughter and her children—_our_ granddaughters—wouldn't be killed by the Goblin."

"What do you know about sacrifice?" Parker looks down at his coffee. He knows too well of sacrifice. He sacrificed countless relationships, his academic activities, his friendships, his career, every time he had put on that red and blue suit to fight villains like the one sitting before him. In spite of his efforts to protect them, one ex-girlfriend died at the hands of another villain, the grandfather of the woman his son-in-law had "run off with."

Peter's daughter, May, is merely pushing her poached eggs around with her fork. She also knows of sacrifice. Her daughters—Parker Marie and Ottoline, named after the hero and villain they are descended from, are also listless and sullen. They also know of sacrifice now. The greatest lesson passed through their family—that with great power must also come great responsibility—is hard-earned through three generations, learned from blood and tears.

Goblin had given Austin a choice. Divorce May and marry her, or watch as everyone he loved gets killed. He had chosen the former, to prevent the latter. But was it about sacrifice, or did he really love Noreen after all?

Because an Elvis impersonator from Atlantic City had told a New York City friend a very strange tale last week. An extraordinarily beautiful, tall, auburn-haired woman, half-dragging a young, handsome, brown-haired man, was married in a local chapel a few days ago. They were accompanied by a teenage boy with auburn hair, his features an attractive mixture of the couple's. The bride wore a white, lacy wedding gown, but the man had four metal, tentacle-like arms poking through the back of his tuxedo. He was rumored to be the son of the infamous Doctor Octopus, or even Doctor Octopus reincarnated. And when Elvis looked at the couple to pronounce them man and wife, he looked at the bride's face and saw the coldest, most inhuman, most piercing blue eyes he had ever seen. They—and their owner—gave him the chills. Those eyes had no shred of kindness, mercy, or conscience behind them whatsoever.

The retired villain looks at the retired hero. He also knows of sacrifice—the wrong kind. He had sacrificed his wife, his love, for his experiments. He had sacrificed the lives of citizens he did not even know, for his own selfish dreams.

"_What do you know about sacrifice?"_

They know too much. All of them. And they bridge two worlds—good and evil, madness and sanity, light and darkness, leaving only a large gray area in their place.

May pokes at her poached eggs and looks up at the sky. Somewhere he's out there—and she knows—and does not doubt—that someday, somehow, he will find a way to come back to her. She cannot. Her whole world hinges on it. And she knows that when, and if, he does, she will be waiting, and so will her daughters, her father-in-law, and, grudgingly, her own father as well.

The flame of Mary Jane's scented candle, as bright orange as a pumpkin bomb, flickers in the wind. It only takes one candle to dispel the darkness, and love is so much more than a candle. Love can light the stars.

_Terminat hora diem, terminat author opus._

_(The hour ends the day, the author ends her work.)_


End file.
